Chuck v The Big Sister
by wtchcool
Summary: Chuck has just come back from Paris. While he was gone, Ellie's discovered his secret. Now that Chuck's back, Ellie has a bone to pick with him. Companion piece to "Chuck v. Project Quantum Leap," but can be read on its own.


**Author's Note: This is a short companion piece to my ongoing story, "Chuck v. Project Quantum Leap." It is a deleted scene, as it were, from Chapter 10. However, if you have not read that story yet, you can still read this one-shot. All you need to know is: Chuck has just come back from Paris. While he was gone, Ellie's discovered his secret and had a heart-to-heart with S.B. Now that Chuck's back, Ellie has a bone to pick with him.**

"Chuck v. The Big Sister"

By wtchcool

Disclaimer: If I owned "Chuck," I would know what's going to happen in season 4, wouldn't I?

Chuck shook his head as his father and his best friend snuck out of his bedroom window, leaving him to face his sister on his own. Ellie pounded on the door again. Reluctantly, Chuck opened the door to let her in.

"Hey sis," Chuck said, plastering a fake grin on his face, and trying to pretend that nothing had changed. "Good to see you. I was going to come over in a little while—"

"Chuck," Ellie cut him off before he could start babbling. "How long have you been a spy?" The smile disappeared from Chuck's face, and he exhaled slowly.

"How much do you know?" he asked softly. Ellie frowned as they sat in the living room. Chuck hadn't denied being a spy. There went the last chance of this not being real. Up until a few moments ago, there was still the possibility that there was some other explanation for this apparently-not-so-crazy notion of her brother being a spy. True, said explanation would have involved her father being insane, but she had almost gotten used to that idea over the years.

"Not much," she finally said. "Devon claims he doesn't know much, and that he's been sworn to secrecy about the rest, Morgan ran off while I was talking to Dad last night, and Dad's answers to my questions were pretty vague, to say the least." She'd also been talking with Casey yesterday, but maybe that was a mistake. Maybe he hadn't known that her brother was a spy? "So, start talking," she said, pointing a finger at Chuck. "How long have you been a spy?"

"Officially, not that long," Chuck said. "But," he continued as he saw her skeptical expression, "I've been working with the CIA and NSA for about three years." _Oh boy_, Chuck thought. _How much can I tell her without putting her in danger? _For that matter, how much could he say without getting _himself_ in trouble?

"Three years?" Ellie repeated. How could her brother have kept this from her for so long? "Three years and you didn't say anything? Three years that you were putting your life in danger?"

"Three years that I've been wanting to tell you about this, Elle," Chuck replied. "Not a day went by that I didn't want to tell you." This was true. He'd never kept anything from his sister before, and keeping this from her was eating him up inside. "But I couldn't. You have to know that I would have, Elle." Ellie looked into Chuck's eyes. She believed him, but…

"You've been risking your neck all this time, Chuck?" Chuck wanted to say no, that he hadn't been in any real danger; he wanted to put his sister's mind at ease, but he was tired of lying to her, so he nodded.

"Technically, yes, but there are people protecting me and believe me, they wouldn't let anything happen to me." Ellie shook her head. So much for thinking that she was the one looking out for her brother.

"You trust these people with your life?"

"Absolutely," he said without hesitation, his voice full of conviction. "Hey!" he continued, when he saw Ellie's expression, "Dad approves of them." Somehow, that didn't reassure Ellie.

"That reminds me, how long have you known about Dad?"

"Well, for about a year," Chuck admitted. He was starting to relax now. Despite his misgivings, Ellie didn't appear to be nearly as angry as Morgan had suggested she would be. Not that she appeared to approve of his being a secret agent, or his having hidden said fact from her, but at least she didn't look like she was ready to kill him.

The two siblings talked for awhile longer. Somehow, Ellie got the answers she was looking for, without Chuck having to divulge too much classified information. Eventually, Chuck said that he had to go, explaining that he had to go to work. Ellie knew that Chuck wasn't talking about his job at the Buy More. Before letting him go, she considered her conversation with their dad last night. "_Charles would quit, if you asked him to_." Was that what she wanted?

She had thought so, at first. But now…She couldn't bring herself to ask him to quit. Words from the previous evening's conversation came back to her. "_This is what he wants…this is what he's meant to do._" It had seemed impossible last night, but after talking with Chuck, she could sense, somehow, that their dad was right. Only one thing for it then. She'd have to meet these mysterious 'handlers' that were hired to protect her brother. It was all very well and good that her brother, her father, and the United States government approved of these people, but if Chuck's life was on the line, they had to meet Eleanor Bartowski Woodcomb's approval, too.

**Second Author's Note: Not going to thank all my reviewers from Ch. 10 here, but I would like to thank BDaddyDL for letting me know that some readers did want to know how that conversation went. **

**If you've been reading "Project Quantum Leap," you know that Ellie's conversation was not, in fact, with Stephen Bartowski. But Ellie believes it was, and part of this is from her point of view.**

**If you haven't been reading that crossover, you don't know what you've been missing. You do NOT need to have prior knowledge of "Quantum Leap" in order to understand the story. (I am telling QL fans the same thing—that they do not have to have seen Chuck. Readers have assured me that this is true and no one needs to worry about getting lost.) If you read the story, you'll find out how Ellie found out about Chuck, who Ellie actually spoke with, and why Chuck came back from Paris earlier than he did in the show. What have you got to lose?**

**If you enjoyed this piece, please let me know. If you didn't enjoy it—you can let me know anyway, just let me know **_**why**_**.**

**If you're wondering when I'm going to update Chuck v. PQL properly, I'm wondering the same thing. But I am not abandoning it! **


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